School records were set and a win was gained for the Bishops at the Marv Frye Women’s Invitational meet Saturday at Selby Stadium and the George Gauthier Track.
The Invitational meet honors Marv Frye, the loyal and active member of the Ohio track and field community, who coached the OWU men’s track and field team from 1961-1997, as well as women’s track and field and cross country during his years at OWU.
The Bishops finished the meet with 154 5/6 points. Sophomore Cara DeAngelis won and set the school record for the 1500-meter run in 4:34:24, breaking the OWU mark she set last year of 4:37:12. Sophomore Sarah Betchel won the pole vault, beating last year’s school record of 11-7¾ and setting a new record of 12-1½.
In addition, freshman Mariah Powell said the Bishops beat a lot of their own individual records.
“As a whole, we had a really good meet,” she said. “On the girls’ side alone we had about 40 seasonal bests in one meet.”
Sophomore Antoinette Joliff said she was amazed, but not surprised, when over half the team raised their hands after the coach asked how many team members achieved personal records.
“I had personal records in both pole vault with a height of 10’8” and in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:06:44, the 4×400 relay had a awesome time of 4:02 as well. Everyone works their tails off to be better and it is showing,” she said.
Case Reserve finished in second with 123 5/6 points, Baldwin-Wallace in third with 119 points, followed by Heidelberg with 75 points, Muskingum with 53 1/3, Capital with 53, Albion with 45, Kenyon with 42, Denison with 30, Bluffton with 19 and Ohio Northern with 3.
Other event winners for the Bishops included Jolliff, winning the 400-meter hurdles and tying in second in the pole vault, and freshman Alex Tavenier, who won the 3000-meter steeplechase in 12:24:99.
Junior Hannah Benzing said the season is just beginning, despite the fact that the conference meet is only a month away.
“Everyone is working hard and pushing through all the way to the end,” she said. “The results we’ve been seeing every week only proves how dedicated we are as a team and how hard we work to be the best athletes we can be.”
Jolliff also said she has high hopes for the rest of the season.
“I am looking forward to the rest of the season, as the competition gets more difficult and know the hard work that the entire team is doing will pay off in the end,” she said. “I couldn’t have picked a better group of friends and coaches to share a victory with.”